In the morning light, the snow on the curved road has been trampled into a dark brown muddy extension line by numerous military shoes and horses' hooves, and the snow is crushed by the wheels of the 75 guns dragged by six strong horses, and the clouds of mist exhaled from the mouths of men and horses are instantly eroded by the cold air.

More than 3,000 people and horses of the An Yi Reading Regiment is silently moving eastward, the officers and soldiers are wearing bloated gray cotton clothes and cotton pants and military uniforms like all units of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and the big caps on their heads are still the big caps that look good and are not easy to use, the only difference between the officers and soldiers is that the necks and heads of the officers and soldiers are tightly wrapped in thick dark flannel cloth, revealing only half of their faces and a pair of black bright eyes.

This simple three-foot-long and wide square flannel cloth was specially ordered by An Yi to seven tailor shops in old Nanchang, and under the condition that the whole army did not have a unified system of cold-proof hats, An Yi could only shield his brothers from the wind and cold through this simple purchase. What An Yi didn't expect was that it was this simple "cold scarf" that warmed the hearts of the brothers of the whole regiment, and also let the people of old Nanchang see the spirit of friendship between the officers and soldiers of the Reading Regiment.

Smoke curls up several kilometers at both ends of the small stone bridge, more than 3,200 officers and soldiers are here to temporarily rest and prepare breakfast, An Yi and Hu Zi, Gu Laoer, Yin Jinan, Yang Bin and other chief officers all gathered together after dismounting, and couldn't help but look north, under the snow-covered tree in the distance, it is the place where they and Gao Zhihua's joint operation dozens of days ago finally formed an encirclement, and now the snow and cold wind roar in the white mist, and the battlefield in the past is completely submerged in snow, but Gao Zhihua's voice and smile clearly appear in the minds of An Yi and others.

"If Brother Gao were alive, he would now be the major general and division commander of the Second Division of the Reading Force Division of my First Army, and he would definitely fight side by side with us this time to fight back to his hometown!" An Yi couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

The brothers sighed, Yin Jinan said sadly: "Since the Northern Expedition, more than 200 of my Huangpu comrades have been killed and more than 700 wounded, and almost half of the officers and soldiers of each army have been replaced. ”

"Whatever others do, we must not forget, as long as we can survive after the end of the Northern Expedition, we must remember to erect a monument to all the brothers who have sacrificed since the establishment of the Third Engineer Company." Beard said in a deep voice.

Yin Jinan nodded: "Don't worry, beard, my memorial record book is kept separately in duplicate, and the sacrificed brothers are not omitted on it, and the names of many dead brothers also appear in the internal war example textbooks we have compiled today, and every brother who sees it will always remember it." Regrettably, 51 of these brothers are still unable to contact their families, and they are unable to send their pensions and martyr's certificates. ”

Yang Bin, Ye Cheng and Qu Muchen looked at each other and were deeply moved, thinking of what An Yi and the three of them did and the sincere brotherly feelings of the officers and soldiers of the model battalion, they were all deeply comforted and glad that they could join this team with a distinct surname. However, the three young school officers did it, and they have been doing it quietly and so perfectly.

After an hour and a half of rest and meals, the well-fed officers and soldiers packed up again and embarked on the journey, Gu Lao Er led the group of brothers under his command who seemed to be tireless to go out to reconnoitre, and the officers and soldiers of the more than 300 guard companies had the greatest motivation in their hearts to inspire them at all times, that is, to strive to be able to enter the third platoon of the teaching team in the next selection, and to be honored to become the "king of soldiers" as the boss An Yi said.

Xia Jian's first battalion of 500 officers and soldiers walked at the front of the ranks, followed by the third battalion, the regimental artillery company and the second battalion. After resuming the journey, the team will pass through the county town of Jinxian without pause, and march straight to Yaqian Town, 30 kilometers to the east, and camp there.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division of the Second Army stationed here warmly greeted the brothers of An Yi's regiment, because of the relationship between An Yi, Yin Jinan and Zhang Tianyi, the commander of the engineer battalion of the Fourth Division, the brothers of the two armies had a good impression of each other, and the current engineer battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Qiao Youlin specially went to the gate of the city to greet him, and gave An Yi and Yin Jinan twelve jars of twenty catties of Jinxian old wine, and told the two: The battalion commander Zhang Tianyi had been ordered to study in Russia half a month ago. Before leaving, he was told to form a brotherhood with the model battalion of friendly troops and fight side by side.

An Yi and Yin Jinan happily accepted the gift and thanked them repeatedly, and after greeting for a while, they turned over and waved goodbye.

Walking out of the east two miles of the city, the beard pointed forward with a horsewhip: "Xiao Yi, do you see it?" The tiger head led the horse and stood on the side of the road, the person on the side seemed to be our old friend Shen Madman, what was he doing here? ”

An Yi was surprised to pull open the scarf covering half of his face, and saw clearly that the person standing in the wide open area of the bend dozens of meters away was indeed a Shen madman who had been gone for a long time, at this time he was dressed in a cyan robe, and he was wearing a black wide-brimmed top hat that literati liked to wear on his head, and a long black scarf was casually hung around his neck, and he let the cold wind blow the scarf up and down, swaying, and at a glance he looked chic and calm, elegant and elegant, and it was no different from a polite young teacher.

"What does this guy want to do? You can't thank you on purpose, right? ”

An Yi let the war horse walk, but secretly complained in his heart, he really didn't want to see this profound and inscrutable master again.

Hu Zi saw An Yi's thoughts, smiled slightly and asked in a low voice, "If Shen Madman can't stay, what will you do?" ”

"Impossible! Where can our small temple afford such a big Bodhisattva? He won't follow us as soldiers to endure hardships, otherwise what would he do if he looted huge amounts of wealth again and again? But most of these people have their own life ideals and lofty ambitions, with his status and outstanding skills, how can he be a soldier in our team? I guess he knew that we were going to leave and came to say goodbye, beard, you were too worried. ”

After An Yi finished speaking, he urged the horse to meet him, and this minimum politeness still needs to be there.

When Shen Madman saw An Yi and Hu Zi coming from a horse, he immediately stood up and saluted An Yi and Hu Zi, who had dismounted: "Brother An, Brother Hu, meet again." ”

The beard in military uniform also hugged his fists in return according to the rules of the rivers and lakes: "It's been a long time, Brother Shen, I didn't expect to see you in the suburbs of this small city in Jiangxi, the injuries are all healed, right?" ”

"The wound of the flesh and skin is not enough to worry about, there is Brother Laohu who is worried about it!"

Shen Madman showed a shallow smile at his beard, took off his hat and looked at An Yi solemnly: "Brother An, my brother is rude in a hurry, just because my brother urgently needs to rush back to his hometown to deal with mundane affairs, but now he has no family affairs, and he is alone from now on, he is only willing to follow Brother An to fight a hundred battles in the south, make meritorious contributions, and not waste his life in vain, I implore Brother An to take him in!" ”

An Yi looked at Shen Madman with a sincere face in surprise, and then looked at Gu Lao Er, who was overjoyed beside him, and when he turned to his beard, he was a little uneasy to speak:

"Beard, I'm ...... What is this...... Brother Shen said that he wanted to fight with me, did I hear me right? ”

"That's what it means." Beard replied with a noncommittal smile.

An Yi was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and laughed: "Brother Shen, don't be joking!" With Brother Shen's great talent, how could he be so wronged? As the saying goes, the sky is high and the birds fly wide and the sea is wide and the fish jumps, but Brother Shen is the eagle soaring high in the sky! How can the bird be with us and the birds? No, no, no! Ha ha...... If Brother Shen feels that he has received a little kindness from others, he can leave the address, and when the younger brother follows the revolutionary comrades to complete the great cause of the Northern Expedition, he will definitely find time to visit. ”

Shen Madman smiled slightly, not caring about An Yi's attitude: "Brother An is too modest, if you really want to praise each other, Brother An is the golden dragon that has just taken off from the clouds, as long as it takes time, it will definitely rain clouds and soar for nine days, even if brother I am an eagle pecking at it, how can I compare?" The reason why Brother An is so ridiculously praised is that Brother An has scruples and is unwilling to take in his brother, right? Please rest assured, my brother has made up his mind, changed his mind, and has joined the army without regrets since then, and I implore Brother An to accept it as a hope, and my brother is willing to start from an ordinary soldier and set up a heart to serve the country, and will never let Brother An and you have any difficulties. ”

"Boss, say yes! You can take me as a bandit who robs homes and houses, not to mention that Senior Brother Shen is so handsome? Gu Lao Er pleaded in a low voice, and Hu Zi also looked at An Yi and nodded slightly.

An Yi's heart was full of contradictions, of course he very much wanted to accept this master who was unanimously respected by masters like Gu Lao Er and Hu Zi, but he really didn't have the grasp of being able to control the control, after listening to Shen Maniac's words, he knew that a person as tough as Shen Maniac was by no means so easy to deal with, and he didn't know what to do after thinking about it, and finally felt that instead of refusing to hurt each other, it was better to agree to his request for the time being, let him be a small soldier and follow for a while, after a long time, life will be boring, and he will mostly be unwilling to be lonely and retreat.

After making up his mind, An Yi nodded slightly: "Since this is the case, then I will be wronged by Brother Shen!" Company Commander Gu Changfeng-"

"Here!"

Gu Lao Er was stunned, but he still took it seriously according to military regulations.

"From today onwards, this recruit surnamed Shen will be directly awarded the rank of private when he enters your guard company, and the enlistment procedures will be filled out by the instructor of your department and submitted to Instructor Yin for approval, and then go to the quartermaster unit to receive clothing, guns and ammunition."

After An Yi finished speaking, he turned around and walked to his war horse and turned over, and without saying a word, he hit the horse forward, and Hu Zi hugged his fist apologetically to Shen Maniac, and also followed.

Gu Lao Er looked at An Yi who was far away blankly, muttered a few words in a low voice, and turned to Shen Maniac with a wry smile: "Senior Brother Shen, this is ...... I've really wronged you, this procedure is a regulation in the army, and everyone must handle it, but your name is ......, senior brother."

"It's simple, just use the words given by my teacher in the year of my crown ceremony as the name, just call Shen Fengdao, twenty-six years old, and write Hubei Valley City. Senior Brother Gu can rest assured, since Brother Fool has made up his mind to join the army, there is no grievance or burden, and Senior Brother can do whatever he wants, and there is no need to add any burden to me. Shen Madman said calmly.

Gu Lao Er nodded: "Okay, in that case, I'll go find you a horse, and I'll go through the relevant procedures when I get to the campsite in the afternoon." ”

"You don't need to look for horses, I know that most of the horses in your army were captured by the brothers, and I will get one myself when I get to the battlefield later. The Zhejiang army is stationed in a rich place, and the generals and colonels in the army are all worth hundreds of thousands, and their guns and swords are extremely exquisite, and the war horses they ride are not necessarily much worse than your Hequ horse, and if I am lucky, I can get a good horse back for the beard. Shen's words were calm but full of confidence and pride.

Gu Lao Er had no choice but to give up, whispered a few words to Shen Madman, and hurriedly left to inspect the department.

Shen Fengdao smiled slightly, calmly followed the back of the team, and walked casually on the snow.

(To be continued)